


made it this far

by soopolallie



Category: Schitt's Creek (TV) RPF
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:47:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27583607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soopolallie/pseuds/soopolallie
Summary: Noah flies to LA for the EW photo shoot and runs straight into his feelings for Dan.
Relationships: Dan Levy/Noah Reid
Comments: 6
Kudos: 52





	made it this far

**Author's Note:**

> This a work of fiction. No actual actors were harmed in the creating of this work. If RPF isn't your thing, now is the time to bounce to a happier place.

“A lot. I’m going to miss a lot.”

Even on the tiny screen of his phone, the video of Dan threatens to rip Noah’s heart out. Amy had sent the clip to him without comment, an uncut twenty second clip from her documentary.

Amy knows. And Annie. Probably everybody knows. Except Dan, who is either too wrapped up in the pressure of being showrunner or too kind to say anything. Too kind to expose the fact that Noah has the biggest unrequited crush on his boss.

It’s wildly unprofessional. He hasn’t gotten involved with anyone on set since the clusterfuck that was Score when he and Allie had ridden out the media circus together. Sure, he and Mikey and Katie and the rest of the regular gang had all experimented together, but there had never been feelings involved. Not like this.

He’s satisfied himself with casual touches on set. A touch on the arm, a squeeze of the shoulder, nothing that could be taken for more. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on whether you were talking to his heart or his brain, Dan is a touchy-feely kind of guy, never one to notice if Noah’s fingers linger a moment too long.

He plays the video again, wanting to read everything into it. 

At least he’s made it this far. 

Through the last days of filming and the wrap party, when every moment felt like the Doomsday Clock, inching closer and closer to the end. Through the trip to Italy, a fun relaxing two weeks with friends, where Dan’s presence filled every corner. Through the Up Close and Personal shows, through the Emmys. Even through Christmas, where every buzz of his phone made him nearly crawl out of his skin in hopes that it might be Dan. 

And now, tomorrow, he has to go to LA. Bad enough that it promises to be filled with red carpet events but he’s flying in early to do this photo shoot for EW and Dan had offered with all the casualness of a good friend for him to stay at his place. 

He should have gotten a hotel. 

The car that Audrey had arranged is waiting when his flight gets in, Lucky and Ana had arrived a few days before to get Dan ready for a different photo shoot, so he’s on his own. It’s better that way, it gives him a chance to adjust to his love-hate relationship with the city, to prepare for seeing Dan again.

It’s been six weeks, the longest time they’ve been apart since they’d started shooting season 6. They’d texted and facetimed and even talked on the phone from time to time, falling back into the casual joking that marks their friendship, quick, short conversations that never fail to leave Noah wanting more. Maybe he’s over it. Maybe he’ll see Dan and be happy to see his friend and not want anything more. Maybe. 

At the magazine, he loses himself in the flow of the day. Hair and makeup, where Lucky and Ana tease him about his curls and then to the interview with Shana, who asks questions about David and Patrick that are different enough that he has to pay attention. And then, finally, to wardrobe where the classic romcom-inspired costumes await him.

He’d thought it would be cute when Shana had pitched the idea. And Dan had been into it, the way he always was when it came to anything to do with love stories and romcoms. It’s not until he sits on the Notting Hill bench that he realizes that he might have made a mistake.

Dan’s hand is like fire in his, their fingers laced together in a way that would be distracting if it weren’t for Dan’s head in his lap. He reaches for Patrick, trying to channel his feelings into the safety of the character that still feels like another part of himself and fails. He can’t pretend to be Patrick when it’s Dan’s face and Dan’s smile looking up at him, black eyes searching his face.

“Julia Roberts made this look a lot more comfortable.” Dan grins at him, squirming on the wooden bench as he tries to find a less awkward position.

“At least you’re not six months pregnant.”

Dan laughs, the full, open-mouthed laugh that Noah loves as the video rolls and the photographer snaps their photo over and over.

They finish the Notting Hill scene and Casablanca and move on to Sixteen Candles. He’s in the groove now, it’s just pretend, even when Dan looks at him so softly. And then Dan smashes the cake in his face. Dan’s eyes sparkle with mischief and before he can stop himself, Noah is smearing icing down Dan’s perfect face, his eyes holding Dan’s as he licks his fingers one at a time. Dan’s breath hitches, so softly that Noah’s not even sure it was real and then Shana is calling the scene and they’re done, back in their street clothes and down to the car.

“I want to make a stop before dinner.” Dan gives some instructions to their driver and they’re off, the lights of LA floating around them. 

At first, he’s not sure why they’ve stopped on Sunset Boulevard. And then he sees it. David and Patrick tower above them, arms tight around one another, lips and bodies pressed together. 

“Dude.” _Dude? What the fuck?_ Fortunately, Dan is too enraptured by the billboard to notice. Noah wraps his arm around Dan’s shoulders as they stare at their billboard. 

“We did it.” Dan beams at the billboard and Noah can’t take his eyes off him.

“You did it. You put that up there.” He hugs Dan again because he wants to touch him, to feel the line of his shoulder beneath his hands. They take a hundred photos. Photos of the two of them, arms around each other. Photos with Lucky and Ana and Megan. He longs to suggest that they recreate the pose in the billboard, but he doesn’t quite dare, not on the busy street with people everywhere, not when he’s too afraid that he might lose himself in the press of Dan’s lips.

Eventually they take all the photos that can be taken and pile back in the SUV. Dan and Megan chat excitedly, flipping through the photos on their photos. He stares out the window, the push pull of LA tugging at him, making him long for something that he can’t quite identify. His phone pings with a text. Lucky, sending him the photo of him and Dan alone, their faces dwarfed by David and Patrick. Two nearly identical couples, one in love, the other destined to just be friends.

After a dinner of delicious food where his ability to enjoy the flavors is overwhelmed by Dan’s moans and sighs at sampling every dish, they’re back at Dan’s. He’s full, so full, first from the cake tasting and then from the Korean barbeque but he stands in the middle of Dan’s kitchen, white cardboard box in his hands with the olive oil cake that Shana had given them. He doesn’t want to eat more cake. He’s too full for more cake, but he doesn’t want to put the box down because then he’ll have to go to bed and this is the first time he’s had Dan to himself all day.

“Oh, is that the cake?” Dan comes up behind him, one hand nudging the small of his back to move him aside. “Shall we have some?”

There’s a mischievous gleam in Dan’s eyes. “Maybe just a small piece.” He finds himself answering before he knows what he’s saying.

The cake is just as delicious as it was a few hours ago. He savors the first bite, closing his eyes, only to find Dan watching him when he opens them. “You’ve got something, just there.” Dan’s hand cups his face, his thumb swiping at the corner of his mouth.

He closes his eyes again, waiting for Dan’s fingers to leave his face. Instead, Dan’s hand moves back, finding a familiar place at the back of his head.

“Noah.” Dan’s voice is a whisper and it cracks on the second syllable of his name as his fingers tease at the short hairs at the back of his neck, sending shivers radiating down his spine. “I need you to tell me if this is okay.”

He swallows roughly, unable to look away from the heat in Dan’s dark eyes. “It’s okay, Daniel. God, it’s more than okay.”

“Good.” And with that Dan has him pinned, one hand on his hip, the other in at the back of his neck, kissing him so gently it’s as though Dan thinks he might break before parting his lips and taking and taking and taking until Noah is dizzy with it, his hands grasping weakly at Dan’s shoulders. 

Dan steps back, Noah can see the hunger in his narrowed eyes and a familiar smirk creases his face. “That is the way I always wanted to kiss you.” Dan pauses, his smirk growing even bigger. “Dude.”


End file.
